The Silver Lining: Encounters With Angels by Gretchen E. Walker

The Silver Lining: Encounters With Angels by Gretchen E. Walker

Gretchen grew up in a family rife with conflict. Her parents divorced while she was young and she was sent to live with her mother, a deeply troubled woman who was both psychologically and physically abusive to her children. The final straw came when Gretchen’s mother remarried – and Gretchen’s home no longer remained a safe place for her to live. From these tumultuous beginnings, Gretchen traces her life’s path through adolescence and young adulthood, recounting her uninhibited yet reckless teenaged years and the trials of her first marriage. Then, just as Gretchen’s life finally begins to flower, she is struck by a debilitating illness. The onset of multiple sclerosis (MS) affects not only Gretchen herself but her family and friends – in fact, without the support of her loved ones to guide every step of her journey, Gretchen’s story would have turned out quite differently. This book is about so much more than illness; it is about one woman’s struggle toward peace in a world that is built for chaos.

Readers would be wise to open these pages with an unbiased mind. Inspirational stories have been spread far and wide these days – though still, one could argue, nowhere near widely enough – yet The Silver Lining stands apart from similar accounts. Walker spends just the right amount of time exploring her familial roots and the origins of her faith, then glides the narrative along to the more recent past where the majority of her story takes place. This lends Walker’s writing an immediacy and a modern practicality that is so often missing from memoirs. Both beautifully and honestly written, The Silver Lining proves that help often arrives from unanticipated allies, and that the best way to take control of your life is sometimes just to give the reins to a higher power.